In Hollywood, stars dodge death every day- career death, that is. Where a big-budget flop can kill one actor’s career, another actor will walk away unscathed. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned from all eight hundred Final Destination films, it’s that you can’t cheat death. That, and you shouldn’t go tanning. In honor of Final Destination 5, we’re taking a look at celebrities who’ve dodged the grim agent, and analyze when the icy hand of straight-to-DVD death is coming back for them.
Near-Death Experience: Mickey Rourke has had a tough run in Hollywood. In the 80’s, he was a rising young star, but the actor hit a string of failures with Desperate Hours and Wild Orchid, and gained a reputation in Tinsel Town for being a tough guy to work with. After returning to his boxing career, Rourke spent most of the ’90s and early ’00s in obscurity.
Comeback: The actor came back into the public eye with his role in Sin City, and rocketed back to the A-list (or at least, B+ list) with his Oscar-nominated turn in The Wrestler in 2008. Since then, he’s been the most interesting part of action movies like Iron Man 2 and The Expendables, while still choosing artsier projects like The Blind Bastard Club and Seven Psychopaths. Few celebrities have managed a better comeback than Rourke.
Cause Of Death: Rourke has developed a dangerous Hollywood habit- telling the truth. The star has made headlines for his honest, and unflattering, assessments of recent projects, from calling his Megan Fox project Passion Play a “terrible movie” to describing 50 Cent film 13 as “so bad it can’t get out.” While we’re big fans of honesty, Hollywood generally has a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding terrible films, especially so close to a film’s release, when it can still effect profits. Prior to his comeback, Rourke had a habit of “burning bridges” in Hollywood, as the actor himself put it, and these lingering resentments may have cost him the Oscar win in 2009. And with films like Immortals and The Expendables 2 coming up, Rourke might have a lot more opportunities to be honest coming up.
Comeback: The actor has made a few semi-successful attempts on the silver screen such as Fools Rush In and Seventeen Again, but his main focus and offers have been mostly TV show based.
Cause Of Death: Matthew seems to now be cursed with the deadly one-year-run. Working alongside Bradley Whitford in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip only lasted for a year from 2006-2007 and his latest television attempt this year with Allison Janney (he’s really trying to stay in touch with the West Winggroup isn’t he?) in Mr. Sunshine has already been canceled. The shows keep getting shot down, yet Perry keeps getting more and more offers. It’s like producers are hoping Chandler Bing will resurface in another successful television hit, but it’s just not happening. He even recently made an appearance on the show Childrens Hospital — so if the show ends up not getting picked up for a new season we’ll know who to blame. Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy, but the guy’s career is on the outs. So when will death finally take Matthew’s waning career? He knows it’s coming, we know it’s coming. Could the outlook BE any grimmer?
